Normal Council Supporting Redevelopment Proposal of Church
By Mary Ann Ford, The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill.
Dec. 18–NORMAL — One Main Development, the company already committed to three new uptown buildings, was given the City Council’s nod of approval for a fourth Monday night.
But the Champaign firm won’t decide the fate of the University Christian Church property by itself. As per its redevelopment proposal, One Main will conduct a public planning process that will include such stakeholders as Illinois State University, the town, Normal Public Library, and nearby business and property owners.
The company also plans to bring other developers to the project.
“We want to stay consistent with where uptown is going,” said One Main Chief Executive Officer Cody Sokolski. “Our company thinks Normal is the benchmark for the way these things should be run.”
Sokolski admitted the pace of the University Christian Church redevelopment process caught the group by surprise. The church announced its intention to sell this summer.
One Main currently is building its first mixed-use building on the former sites of Commerce Bank at Beaufort and Broadway and the Uptown Redevelopment office by Constitution Trail. Two other buildings are planned on either side of the trail.
“We have a fiduciary obligation to the town with Uptown One, Two and Three,” Sokolski said.
Councilman Jeff Fritzen, who served on the committee to review the proposals, said the stakeholders planning process proposed by One Main is consistent with the process used for other uptown projects.
Besides the One Main proposal, the church and the town — which jointly sought redevelopment proposals — received a plan from Royal Properties of Champaign to build a seven- to 12-story building with retail on the first floor and student apartments on the top floors. Mayor Chris Koos said the committee was unsure it wanted that much density at that location.
Don Merritt, one of the church representatives who also served on the review committee, said the church won’t be involved with the One Main planning process.
Instead, the church will give the money earned from the sale — a minimum of $1.25 million according to the request for proposals — to the Disciples of Christ regional office “to develop a new church start in the community.”
“Hopefully, it will be in a neighborhood setting like this was when it was first started,” he said.
University Christian Church has been at 206 North St. for 135 years.
“It’s tough to give it up,” Merritt said.
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